Biohazard: City of the Damned
by TehZombieWaster
Summary: It began as any other night- Sam and his trusted Flygon friend, Morena, had gone out for a pleasant evening in the heart of Eterna City. But the unexpected occurs when the city is overrun by carnivorous genetically altered creatures. Prequel to Biohazard.


_-Here's the obligatory disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Gamefreak/Nintendo/The Pokemon Company (I never know which to put __XD__). No copyright infringement is intended._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy the story; I wrote this last year for a Halloween contest and luckily things went well. It's also very slightly inspired by the Resident Evil videogame series, but not to a degree earning a tagging. 'Just posting it here in the hopes to gain a slightly expanded audience, but that's not very likely to happen, but no matter._

_To avoid confusion, there may be some references to some characters that don't make an appearance in the story (Bobby, Flara, and Human Unit 134); these are individuals from the parent story series, but I won't be posting that here because the quality of the writing is kinda low compared to this (not that this is a masterpiece either). _

_If you have any questions/ comments/ concerns or if you want a draft of the original story series (or even the 'uncut version' of City of the Damned), drop me an email.  
_

_Enjoy!_

**Biohazard: The City of the Damned**

_This version's content has been edited to suit this website's regulations_

*WARNING- Contains the following: creature violence, disturbing content, mature language, explicit depictions of gore, and a drug reference

A lone zombie shuffled down the street, letting out a long, deep moan. A gunshot rang out, and the zombie's head splintered into a thousand pieces as blood splattered on the screen. Morena Sergei placed an Xbox controller down on the white-carpeted floor and stuck out her tongue at her friend and companion, Sam.

"Better luck next time, Sam. I told you that you can't beat me." The Flygon laughed.

The boy Sam turned to face her. He had short, blonde hair and stood about six feet tall; he was skinny, but well muscled. His brown eyes burned with frustration. "You got lucky that time. You only killed five more zombies than I did."

Sam then exited the game and returned to the console's menu to check if his friend Bobby was online. His profile status stated that he had last been online an hour ago. "Darn it." He muttered to himself. Sighing, he ejected the game disk labeled "Zombie Hunter" and turned off the game system. The television began to play the evening news.

Smiling, Morena said, "You're tired of getting your butt kicked already?

Shooting her a dirty look, Sam growled, "No, I'm just tired of you being a sore winner."

"Geez, sorry. I didn't know you were that sensitive."

Sam didn't reply, but looked outside his apartment window. The sun had already set, and it was dark outside. It was probably cold, too.

Morena looked at him, and then outside of the building. "Hey, I'm hungry. Are you making dinner soon?"

Getting up from the carpet, he said, "Yeah, hold on. Let me see what we've got." He wasn't sure if they had anything in the apartment that was substantial enough for an evening meal, and he knew that Morena being a Flygon meant that she had a monstrous appetite. How she was so slim, he didn't know.

Sam entered the small kitchen that contained a rather dinky counter with a stainless steel sink built in. A small two-person table sat directly underneath a windowsill where one could peer out at the Eterna skyline; their tenth-story apartment provided an excellent view. In the corner sat a white refrigerator that sat on a sparkly clean white tile floor, which in no way complemented the dull blue walls.

He pulled on the refrigerator door, which activated the dull yellow light that lit the interior. Inside, Sam only spotted a half-full quart of Moo-Moo milk and a couple sticks of butter. The Remoraid casserole he had made the previous night had mysteriously disappeared…

"Hey, Morena! Did you eat the casserole that was in here?" He called into the adjoining room.

"I ate it while you were at Bobby's house the other day." She said sheepishly. Morena couldn't join them, as she hadn't been feeling well that day.

"The whole thing?"

Morena blushed; luckily he wasn't there to see it. "Yeah, the whole thing."

Sam smacked his forehead in frustration. "I guess it's your lucky night. We're going out."

The Flygon suddenly became excited. It wasn't often that the two went out to eat because of Sam's stinginess; when they did go out though, he typically spent a lot.

"Do you want to eat at the mall?" Sam asked.

"Sure. Maybe we'll see Bobby and Flara there." Morena said as she walked into her room to change clothes.

Grabbing a wad of Pokedollars, Sam replied, "Maybe. They might be at a Pokemon Rescue Organization meeting or something." Stuffing them in his pocket, he continued, "I guess I'll call them on the way there."

A few seconds after he finished speaking, a high-pitched beeping sound came from the television set. Annoyed by the sound, Sam walked over to the TV to turn it off, but before he pressed the button, something caught his attention. The words "Emergency Broadcast" were written at the bottom of the screen contained inside a blue bar. Sam watched the screen with curiosity until an anchorman appeared, standing in front of what looked to be the front of the Eterna Forest.

"Good evening, this is Francis McCreary for SNN bringing you a special Emergency Report. According to some sources, many rouge Pokemon have entered Eterna City, viciously attacking anyone in sight and in extreme cases actually partially i_eating/i_ their victims. This message will repeat itself every hour until 10:00 PM. Again, all Eterna City residents should stay inside their homes until the Pokemon Rescue Organization handles the situation."

The image of the reporter changed to a clip of a large twitching Pokemon crouched over something with a large CENSORED bar over it; blood soaked the white concrete ground around the fallen body. The attacker seemed to be completely devoid of skin, muscles rippling and gleaming in the sunlight. It suddenly turned towards the camera, opening its jaws in a threatening snarl, and pounced. The image then distorted and the image went black. After a few seconds, the normal evening news began to play once again.

Instead of behaving concerned, a small smile spread across his lips. "Hah, that's funny. Do those guys seriously expect people to buy this crap?" he said to himself. Extending his arm, he shut off the TV.

Emerging from her room, Morena asked, "Hey, did you say something?" Sam couldn't help but notice how tight her sweater was.

Pausing for a second before he spoke, he replied, "No, it's nothing. Just some stupid news report on SNN."

"Huh, ok. You want to go now?"

"Sure." Sam said, smiling.

* * *

The Eterna City Mall was first built after the destruction of the Team Galactic Office building in 2007. The interior was smartly decorated and contained two floors that extended to each side of the rectangular-shaped mall. Shops and stalls were lined up along the walls where cell phone marketers pestered innocent shoppers. A beautiful glass ceiling was suspended above the mall supported by triangular-shaped steel support beams. However, as Sam and Morena soon noticed after entering the mall, something was slightly amiss. The mall that was usually crowded to near maximum capacity contained what couldn't be more than two hundred shoppers.

Confused, Sam asked Morena, "Is there a festival or something tonight? There's hardly anyone here…" The news report that he had seen before leaving suddenly came to mind, but Sam disposed the thought as quickly as it had come into his head.

Equally baffled, the Flygon replied, "No, I don't think so. What does it matter anyway? Shouldn't you be happy that it's not as crowded as usual?"

"Maybe. But it's a bit creepy with nobody in here, don't you think?"

"Pfft. Yeah, right. I think those zombie games are getting to your head."

Laughing a bit, Sam said, "You're right."

The two then ventured to the food court where they purchased some food from a PokeDiner and sat down to eat. It Diner was one of the three food shops that was actually open; the remaining ten or so remained dark and empty. As Sam was eating, he noticed something even more peculiar. Those that were in the mall seemed to warily glance about, and those who were leaving looked as if they were in a hurry to leave, shuffling towards the exits with haste.

Glancing over at his partner, he asked, "Morena, have you been hearing that stuff about EvolutionX was giving Pokemon the flu?"

EvolutionX was a new Pokemon growth-enhancing product that supposedly amped up a Pokemon's power during an evolutionary phase that was released on the market about a week ago. Trainers everywhere were buying it; it was the hottest new supplement around.

She finished chewing a mouth full of food and swallowed. "Mmh-hmm. Maybe it has something to do with why there's no one here." Morena took a quick glance around the mall, and then returned to her sandwich. "The food's good."

Not paying attention to her last comment, Sam said, "You're right about that EvolutionX stuff. I guess everybody around here thinks it's a deadly disease or something." He laughed a little, reassuring himself that the current events were not caused by the wild Pokemon mentioned in the news report.

Remembering that he was going to call Bobby, he took out his cell phone and dialed Bobby's home phone, as he didn't have a cell. Sam was rather curious as to what the heck was going on. The phone rang seven times, and a voice recording began to play.

"This is Robert Clarke, if you have a message, please leave it and I'll call you back as soon as possible. If you have a message for Flara VanSandt, I'll be sure to tell her that you called."

After the tone, Sam began the message. "Hey Bob, it's Sam. Me and Morena are at the mall right now and we were just wondering if you and Flara wanted to come. It's weird, though. There's almost nobody here even though this place is usually packed. Oh well. Just call me back when you get home."

Sam shut his phone after he finished the voice message. Bobby and Flara must have been doing something with their PRO Team. They were lucky… You had to have either some serious skills or some serious money to get your way into a PRO Team. Oh well, he thought, maybe he'd try out again in a year or so. His thoughts were interrupted by a dull thump that came from the glass ceiling. Putting down his half-finished sandwich, he got up from the table, leaving Morena sitting at the table to investigate the noise.

Walking to the second floor balcony, he looked up to where he thought he heard the noise. At first, he didn't see anything, but before long the few people that were in the immediate vicinity began pointing upwards and murmuring. Then Sam saw it.

A skinless creature that looked similar to a Gliscor was perched upon the glass roof. Its pink muscle tissue reflected the light from the mall below; it looked as if it was coated in a thin film of transparent slime. Long, thin teeth protruded from its mouth that were shaped like needles. Its dead white eyes seemed to dart around as if observing the shaken people beneath. The creature then lifted a hunk of meat on the end of its arm that looked as it was once encased in a claw, and brought it down hard on a thick glass panel. Deep crimson exploded across the sheet of glass. It had no effect.

Hissing, the creature's brow muscles came together in a glare as it looked at its damaged muscle tissue, and then it took off into the air. Wings sprouted from its sides that looked oddly similar to a bat's, as the thin membrane that made up the wings was semi-transparent. The Pokemon-thing then disappeared into the night.

By this time, Morena had gotten up from the table and walked over to where Sam was standing in a daze. Looking up, she asked, "What the heck was that?"

Brought out of the trance, Sam blinked his eyes and said, "I have no freaking idea. It just plopped down on the glass and tried to break it. See?"

Looking up, Morena saw the blood splatter on the glass. Her face wrinkled. "Shit, that's _disgusting.._. Maybe some Pokemon was high on PCP or something."

Sam shook his head. "That thing wasn't a Pokemon. It sure was shaped like one and if it is a Pokemon, that sure as hell is the freakiest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Peering around the mall, Morena saw that most of the people and Pokemon who had seen the creature had already fled. The Flygon stopped a nearby man who was heading toward an exit with a large bag of food in his hands. Sam watched and listened as the man stopped.

"Sorry, sir," she began "but do you know what the heck is going on? There's practically nobody in here even though it's usually really crowded- and there was no one on the streets when me and my friend were walking here." She motioned towards Sam.

The man looked at her, eyes wide. "You don't know?"

"About what?" Sam cut in.

"About the monsters." He whispered. "SNN has been broadcasting this stuff for the past two days."

Sam was genuinely puzzled: the crap that was broadcast on the news station simply couldn't be true. He was still slightly disturbed at what had happened a few minutes ago on the balcony- the creature's ghostly white eyes was burned into his memory. Sam shook his head. "Monsters? Sorry, but do you expect me to buy that cra-

He was interrupted by the sound of a generator powering down. One by one, the rows of lights that lit the mall shut off; stores went black. As the last row of lights failed, the mall became shrouded in an ominous darkness. Isolated cries of fright began to resound throughout the mall.

Terrified, the man hissed, "Say out of the streets, you'll get yourselves killed!" With that, he ran toward the nearest exit.

By now, Sam was scared, and he could tell Morena was too. Morena never got scared.

The Flygon grabbed Sam by the arm and said, "I don't know what the heck is going on, but we should get home. Now."

Bobbing his head, he replied, "I second that."

* * *

Without the usual glow of the streetlights, the roads in the city were bathed in a curtain of pitch-blackness, as no stars lit the sky on this particular night.

Sam felt the loose gravel on the street scrape against his sneakers as he cautiously walked alongside Morena. Even though it was cold outside, Sam's skin was soaked in sweat. The sudden transition of an innocent act of eating at the mall with his friend to the disturbing encounter with the creature had quite frankly scared him witless.

As he walked, he looked at Morena who then placed a warm three-taloned hand on his head and ruffled his hair. She smiled at him, but looking through the transparent red lens that covered her eyes, he could tell that she was just as scared as he was. Then, a faint movement caught his eye. He stopped walking after he kicked aside an empty bottle of EvolutionX, and stared at the place he thought he saw the shifting shadow in one of Eterna's many dark alleys.

"Morena?"

She stopped. Sam was pointing at a dark figure on the left side of a… skyscraper? "What the hell?" she whispered.

The dark shape then leaped to another building parallel to the skyscraper, and then jumped to the ground from a height of about five stories.

Morena let out a small squeak of terror as the figure impacted the ground twenty feet away from them with a sickening crunch. Her hands flew up to her mouth in shock. Next to her, Sam's jaw fell agape. Both of them looked at each other in horror and confusion at what had just happened.

Trying to gain composure, Sam slowly advanced toward the body; he saw that a black flower-shaped splatter of blood had formed on the cement around the corpse. As he got to the body and examined it, he gasped. Just like the creature that had appeared on the roof of the Eterna Shopping Mall, the corpse was completely devoid of skin, but whatever this thing was, it had to be dead. The white of bones shone in a number of places where they had been broken and speared through the creature's muscle and tissue. It actually appeared to once be human, except now it had no skin and large, nasty-looking teeth that had sprouted from its mouth; the thing's milky-white eyes had been covered by its eyelids. It had also grown six-inch claws on each of its hands. Sam turned away from the monster-thing and glanced at Morena who had stayed rooted to the spot where she was originally standing.

"What… What is that thing?" He whispered.

Covering her mouth with her hand as if she was about to vomit, Morena said, "Like I know? I've never seen anything like that…"

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed 911. After a few rings, an operator picked up.

"Hello, this is the Jocelyn from the Pokemon Rescue Organization Headquarters, how may I help you?" She sounded drained.

Slowly, Sam explained what had happened.

The operator then said, "Sir, we're getting reports like this all over the city and our recourses are getting stretched to the breaking point. Take your friend and go home immediately, and we'll have an officer there within the next half-hour. It's not safe outside." With that, she hung up.

Sam shifted attention from the phone to his companion. "Morena, the operator just told us to scram. She says that stuff like this is happening all over the place, but where? Shouldn't there be screaming and police sirens and stuff like that?"

The Flygon didn't reply, but rather pointed her finger behind him. "Sam, behind you!"

Alarmed, Sam whirled around and jumped as he realized that the dead body had begun to twitch violently. Little jets of black fluid began to shoot out of the thing's multiple wounds as pale white bone fragments began to push out of the creature's body.

Walking backwards away from the body, Sam whispered, "That's impossible."

The creature then began to let loose feral snarls while it's limbs began to spasm, flying through the air; loud cracking noises could be heard as it's broken bones began to grow back at a rapid pace. Through shorn away body muscle, the white of bone could be seen quickly growing back and re-attaching itself to the severed end opposite of it. The cracking then stopped, and the punctured muscles began to knit themselves back together like intertwining piles of snakes. The entire process took about fifteen seconds.

By now Morena had begun to run toward Sam screaming, "Damn it Sam, get away from that thing!"

Sam wasn't listening, as he was frozen with a twisted curiosity wondering how it was physically possible for the thing to repair itself. He continued to stare at the struggling figure. Then, the creature abruptly stopped.

Morena stopped ten feet short of Sam. "What the hell are you thinking?"

Stuttering, he answered, "I… I… I don't know. How could something like that be possible?" He looked down at the monster that had now begun breathing in short gasps. Sam thought he was imagining things when the creature's eyelids snapped open to reveal it's pearly-white eyes.

It arched it's back, and like a snake, the thing's body flipped upwards so that now it was standing face-to-face with Sam. He was too shocked and scared to utter a scream. The monster then brought it's clawed arm back, slowly and deliberately, and then struck Sam in the torso with superhuman speed. His body flew through the air like a rag doll, and landed like one too as he skidded to a stop ten feet away. Sam lay motionless.

Morena stood in the street, paralyzed with raw fear. She couldn't move, not even to help her best friend. Her chest began to rise and fall with increasing speed as she began to hyperventilate, watching the mutant-thing dash towards Sam so fast that appeared to be a blur. With inhuman savagery, the creature pounced on Sam's body and sunk its teeth into the flesh of his arm. It shook its head from side-to-side and then with a powerful upwards motion, tore a large flap of skin off of Sam's lower left arm. This spurred the terrified Flygon into action.

"Get away from him, you rotting fucker!" Morena screamed. She inhaled sharply, and released a powerful Dragon Pulse attack. A straight blue beam of pure energy shot from her mouth that engulfed the top half of the monster. The muscles and tissue on the thing's head, chest, and arms began to peel away, as if being sandblasted; they were promptly followed into oblivion by the creature's upper skeleton that quickly melted away into the raw beam of draconic energy.

The lower half of the creature still stood, completely cut off at the waist, now beginning to tremble as if it were trying to find its way around without eyes or a brain. Remaining erect for another few seconds, the ruined body fell to the ground

Morena ran to Sam as fast as her legs could carry her, nearly tripping twice. When she got to him, his eyes were wide open, staring at the black sky above.

"Morena… I can't feel my arm." Sam muttered. A long slash wound had been cut deeply into his arm; the monster's swipe had hit more than just his chest.

Cursing herself, she tore a piece of fabric from her sweater and wrapped it tightly around the grisly wound. Sam screamed as Morena performed the action. He was losing a lot of blood. She ripped off her other sleeve and wrapped an extremely tight knot around Sam's upper arm to slow the bleeding.

Gently, she asked, "Can you stand?"

"Yeah." He said weakly as he hauled himself off the ground. He cried out as his bad arm shifted positions.

"Hold on." Morena said. Stripping off her shirt, she tied the ends together to make a makeshift sling for Sam's arm. She shivered. Underneath her first shirt, she wore a plain white tee shirt; hardly warm enough for the frigid temperature outside.

After she wrapped the sling around Sam's arm and shoulder, she said, "C'mon, we're almost home. We better hurry before one of those things shows up again."

Panting, Sam replied, "Yeah." There was a certain heaviness that had seemed to place itself on his body; it felt as if it sapped his energy, making him exhausted. He wished Morena's wings were strong enough so that she could fly the both of them home, but that would never happen. Not in a million years, though he desperately wished she could.

Leaning on Morena for support, the two friends began to slowly walk towards their home. More than a dozen silent figures cast dancing shadows in-between the buildings behind them.

* * *

After they had gotten home, Sam helped Morena rip apart the cabinets and the dressers with his good arm to use them for boarding up the doors and windows. The power was still off- which meant that some of those psycho freaks must have cut the power supply to the city while biting around. For light, they used candles that they had received from Ava the Garchomp and her family that lived ten floors down on the first floor.

While Morena hammered some nails into a wooden plank placed across the front door, the noise of the hammer falling was interrupted by the sound of rapid tapping noises that sounded far beneath them. The tapping continued in four short intervals, and then stopped.

"Does someone have a machine gun downstairs or something?" Sam asked.

Lining up another nail, Morena said, "Be darn lucky if they did. Maybe they're helping Ava out, but we should stay put; she's ten floors down, and who knows what found their way in the building."

Quietly, Sam agreed.

After they had nailed the door shut, Sam drowsily walked over to the couch and collapsed onto it. He was so tired…

Morena seated herself on the couch cushion next to him. "Hey, don't fall asleep. I heard that sometimes when someone has a bad injury, they get tired…" Her eyes began to tear up a bit as she continued. "…And they don't wake up."

Absently, Sam lifted his head and muttered, "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Gingerly, he untied the saturated piece of cloth from his wound and observed it. Oddly enough, the deep wound that revealed exposed red muscle tissue had stopped bleeding, but even stranger was the fact that a thin film of mucus-like slime had begun to coat the wound.

Looking at the wound, the Flygon whispered, "Oh my god… We should clean that out." She lifted herself from the couch to retrieve a bottle of alcohol.

"Shit, no." He reached out with his right hand and grabbed her arm. "Are you crazy? Putting alcohol on this thing is gonna kill me!"

Ignoring his pleas, she shook his hand off and went into the kitchen to get the dreaded disinfectant. Sam heard her rummaging about underneath the kitchen sink.

"NOT putting alcohol on that is what's going to kill you." Morena said as she returned to the living room with a large bottle of alcohol in her hand. "Now hold still."

Reluctantly, Sam slowly moved his injured arm with his right hand to where she could easily pour the alcohol on the wound. He saw her tilt the bottle, and the clear liquid began to pour out in what appeared to be slow motion. At first, Sam felt nothing. He then inhaled sharply, taking as much air in as he could. Explosively exhaling, he screamed. "AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

It was late; Morena couldn't tell what tell what time it was since the power was out. Neither her nor Sam owned wristwatches. She glanced over at her friend. Sam sat staring at the wall; he hadn't said anything for a long time. "Are you ok?" She asked quietly. Over the course of the past hour, he had begun to develop a bad cough and a runny nose.

"My arm burns like hell, I feel like the last shit I took, and we're trapped in our own apartment with some psycho-zombie-monsters prowling around outside. Other than that, I'm just doing great." After he finished speaking, he sneezed three times.

Something then shuffled in the ceiling. The thing that had made the noise shifted to made some scratching sounds right above the television set; some dust began to sift down over the top surface of the TV.

Clutching Sam, she dragged him into a standing position and ushered him behind the couch. "I take it that you didn't make that noise," Morena whispered.

Adrenaline waking him up from his sleepy state, Sam whispered back, "I think it's one of those monsters…"

The orange flames from the candles projected ominous shadows on the living room wall that danced back and fourth with the flames. The scene became even more eerie when the scratching stopped. A last puff of dirt fell from the ceiling.

Making sure not to make the slightest sound, Morena slowly made her way to each of the candles and quietly blew them out, leaving one last candle lit. The room was now so dark that Sam could hardly see; the feeble orange light that shined from the solitary candle was nearly useless.

Silently, Sam left the living room and entered the pitch-black kitchen. Feeling his way to the countertop, his hand wrapped itself around a cold, cylindrical object on the cool marble counter. Tugging on it, the six-cell Mag-Lite that could serve as a bludgeoning tool easily slid from its resting place. The long, heavy flashlight felt like a large block of lead in his hand. Unfortunately, the batteries contained inside had long since run out of power.

Cautiously, he proceeded back to the living room where he saw Morena prying off the wood that they had nailed to the door with a hammer, obviously trying to make as little noise as she could. A loud snap emanated from the wooden plank as Morena unintentionally broke it in half with the prying end of the of the tool; rapid scratches from something scampering around in the building became louder and louder as the unidentified creature drew closer and closer.

"Shit." Morena cursed as she ripped the door off its hinges. Making noise now wouldn't matter. She exited the apartment with haste as Sam trailed behind her, clutching the flashlight in his hand. The dark hallway ahead seemed like a black tunnel, trailing on forever into a swirling, black void. Behind them, they heard the ceiling in their apartment cave in, and the heavy crash of the malicious object that fell through. Two more crashes then came from the apartment.

In the darkness, the two friends ran down the unlit hall, holding on to each other so they wouldn't get separated. Sam and Morena rounded a corner, and made their way to the stairwell, clumsily stumbling in the darkness. In the hall around the corner the duo had just rounded, three glistening shapes tore down the passageway in pursuit.

Slamming the double-doors to the stairwell open, Morena twisted around after Sam had entered safely and slammed the door shut. She then threw herself against the door to prevent the monsters from getting through. "Go! Run!" She screamed.

Advancing towards the stairs, Sam cried, "What about you?"

"I'll be fine, just go! I can't hold them forever!"

Three bodies slammed against the other side of the thick wooden doors. If the Flygon hadn't been supporting it, they would have torn the doors clean off of their hinges. "Go!" Morena screamed again.

Hesitantly, Sam began to descend the square-shaped stairwell that circled around and around in a twisting spiral until it reached the ground floor. There was a clear space in the center of the descending staircase in which an individual could see down to the bottom. Now running, Sam heard the loud slamming of the doors as the monsters' bodies impacted it. He nearly tripped because it was so dark; fear now took hold of his body as he frantically ran down the stairs towards Terra Firma.

Up above, the three creatures rammed against the doors simultaneously, and unfortunately Morena couldn't hold them back this time. The doors flew open as the Flygon fell forwards and landed on her face; the three monsters quickly advanced upon her.

The creatures looked like a twisted human-frog hybrid and appeared to be about three-feet from head to buttocks. The body retained the same basic human shape, but they crouched on their wrongly proportioned and muscle-packed back legs; they appeared to use their lanky front arms for balance. Aside from that, they resembled the other creatures the duo had seen, as they had mouths full of sharp teeth and long claws that extended from their fingers. Their white eyes seemed to glow with malice.

The first one leaped through the air at her, but Morena was quick enough to deflect it with her muscular tail, which send it flying into a wall. There was a loud crack as the mutant's head impacted the concrete wall. It fell limply onto the ground with half of its featureless face caved in; black blood trickled in a steady stream from a large gash on its forehead that descended to its exposed brain.

The second and third attacked her at the same time. Morena caught the first one under her foot as the thing's skull pancaked. She wasn't quick enough to catch the last one.

It jumped with all of its strength, and hit Morena square in the chest. She stumbled backwards with the mutant in her grasp, and felt the cold steel of the railing hit her back as she went plummeting over the side. She heard Sam scream.

With a cold, hard marble floor rapidly advancing in her field of vision, the Flygon unfolded her wings, achieving flight, and with all her might threw the struggling creature downwards. The mutant hit the ground with a loud splatter as Morena landed on the ground seconds afterwards, miraculously unscathed.

Sam arrived on the ground floor half a minute after his friend landed. Frantic, he sputtered, "Oh my god, are you alright? Are you hurt? Please don't tell me you're hurt!"

Placing both of her hands on his shoulders, she looked him in the eyes and calmly said, "I'm fine. Settle down, before you attract more of those things… And thanks for caring."

This seemed to soothe her frightened friend, as he began to take slower breaths. Choked up, he croaked, "I thought you were gonna die." Hard sobs began to rake his body.

Slowly, she took Sam and pushed his head into her chest. "It's okay." She cooed as her friend continued to cry.

After Sam had settled down, the two friends exited the staircase and entered the main apartment lobby when Sam though he heard a faint wailing.

His face still tear-stained, he quietly asked Morena, "What is that?"

She paused, and listened hard. Sure enough, there was the sound of despaired cries that came from a hall labeled "Apartment Block C"; the sign on the door was barely legible because of the intense darkness that enveloped the room. The sound intensified the eeriness of the already scary-as-hell environment they were in.

A sudden revelation hit Sam. He turned to Morena. "…Doesn't Ava live in Apartment Block C?"

"Oh-no… She does." whispered Morena.

Since living in the building, the two friends had gotten to know the Garchomp relatively well. She was very kind, and often sold flowers on Sundays with old Mrs. Prescott and her three grandchildren whom she lived with. The thought of her being in trouble brought a sense of urgency upon the pair.

The two looked at each other and nodded. They carefully proceeded to open the labeled door and entered the dark hallway. A dim yellow light shone from underneath a door that read "C-15". Cries emanated from the room; it was a female voice, shrill and filled with pain. Morena cast a glance at Sam, who shook his head slightly; she could tell that he was disturbed by the cries, as was she. Slowly, she went to open the door.

The sight inside made her gasp in horror; as soon as Sam caught sight of the apartment's interior, he whirled around and vomited on the floor, clutching his flashlight with his good hand. Inside, the broken Garchomp named Ava nursed four dead figures that she piled up against herself with their backs laying against her. She rocked back and forth in a fetal position with a dead little girl clutched in her arms. A clean bullet wound was drilled into her forehead. Two small boys and the elderly Mrs. Prescott lay dead around Ava; all had obviously been shot.

Sam closed the door, sealing himself in the hallway with Morena still standing horrified in Ava's apartment. He was disgusted beyond belief that somebody could commit such a heinous act.

Inside the room, the Garchomp looked up at Morena- her eyes spilled tears and she constantly whimpered about the number 134. Then, she began to speak. "You know what they did, right?" Her voice was unstable and raspy.

Kneeling down, Morena brought a hand up to Ava's cheek. She locked eyes with her and gently asked, "Who? What did they do?"

In a sudden explosive rage, Ava screamed at the top of her lungs. "The government! That awful, murderous Arceus-forsaken government!" She screamed again, hysteria rising in her voice. "They're killing everyone! Your sons, your daughters, your mothers, your fathers, they're all DEAD!"

Morena breathed in deeply to gain composure. "Ava, you have to settle dow-"

Spittle flew from her lips. "Don't you tell me to settle down you bitch! You think I can SETTLE DOWN?" She gestured to the dead bodies. "You think I can settle down after seeing my family murdered by a smart-talking bastard who comes into my home and killed my family? Do you?"

Shaken to the point that she felt as if her heart would burst, Morena asked in a humbled voice, "Who did this to you?"

The Garchomp seemed to go from hysterical to deathly calm in an instant; the poor creature must have gone insane. She still clung on to the dead girl. Her breathing slowing, Ava quietly said, "After the Sinnoh government quarantined-"

"Quarantined?" Morena interrupted.

"Yea, quarantined. After they quarantined the city, they must have sent in a bunch of soldiers to clean up after they found out that EvolutionX caused the outbreak of these… monsters."

Astonished, the Flygon gasped. "EvolutionX caused this?"

If Ava wasn't caught up in such a deep depression, she would have sounded surprised. "You didn't know? Something that had to do with what ingredients they used for it caused some Pokemon to mutate after it was used on them." She began to go hysterical again. "And the government sends in their good little soldiers to kill every last person in the city!"

Morena didn't know what to say- she couldn't say anything that would comfort the Garchomp. She glanced again at the dead bodies that surrounded Ava and looked away.

Ava began to speak again, and what disturbed Morena was that she spoke in a light, happy tone. A twinkle appeared in the mad Garchomp's eye. "Get to the PRO building. That's your best chance. They have guns, ammo, food- everything. I want you do escape the city for me."

"Why don't you just come with us?" asked Morena. She didn't like where this was going.

"Because there's one more thing I want you to do for me. Just one thing. Look under the top left corner of the bed- there should be a black case."

Doing as she was told, Morena reached under the bed, and sure enough, she felt a small, heavy case. She pulled it out from under the bed and placed it on the floor in front of Ava.

The Garchomp had a twisted grin pasted on her face. "Open it."

Morena slowly unlatched the latches on the case and slowly cracked it open. There was a pistol and two clips of ammunition inside. Terrified, the Flygon asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Ava began to shake back and forth wildly while laughing giddily. "I would of done this a long time ago if I could have." She motioned towards her arms with her head. "But I don't have any hands!" Ava threw her head up and laughed insanely.

"…I can't…" Morena whispered, horrified.

The demented Garchomp went through yet another abrupt change in behavior, changing from hysterical giddiness to deathly seriousness. "Do it." She commanded.

Her hand trembling, Morena removed the sleek black gun from the case and slid one of clips in. Not believing what she was doing, she pulled the slide back and released it. The slide slid forward with a metallic _chink._ The Flygon closed her eyes and lifted the gun so that it touched the yellow mark in the center of Ava's head. She pulled the trigger. Nothing.

Ava, whose eyes were closed, opened them and flatly said, "You forgot to turn off the safety."

"Where is that?" Her voice trembled.

"Above the left grip."

Pulling the tiny lever down, Morena once again brought it up to the Garchomp's head.

"And Morena?"

Tears spilled out of her eyes. "Yeah?"

"You're my new best friend." She chuckled. Ava's eyes were now closed and her face was relaxed; she genuinely looked to be at peace.

* * *

Outside, in the dim hallway, Sam heard a loud pop erupt from Ava's apartment; he had heard a lot of shouting, but couldn't make out what was being said. Before he got up to investigate, Morena opened the door and closed it quietly. She had a pistol in her hand. Instantly, he knew what had transpired inside the room- there was no need for words.

In a haunted voice, Morena muttered, "Ava says that we should get to the PRO building: they have guns, food, and water there. If we could make it there, we might have a chance to make it out of the city."

Staring at the floor, Sam asked, "What was she screaming about?"

The Flygon took a deep breath. "She said that the government sent in all of their troops to wipe out everything, including civilians. That's how her family was killed."

The rapid tapping noises that he and Morena had heard earlier from downstairs came to mind. "Oh my god…"

"If we're going to get to the PRO station, you're going to have to run through the streets; I can protect you from up in the air, unless you want me to run with you." She said quietly.

Sam shook his head no. "Personally, I think it would probably be better if we followed your first idea."

"Alright, then take this." She handed him the pistol and extra magazine. She knew that Sam didn't know how to operate a gun, so she slowly explained it to him. "Understand?"

Profoundly uncomfortable that he was holding the same weapon that had killed Ava, he shook his head. "Yeah." He discarded his useless flashlight on the floor.

Morena took another deep breath. "Are you ready?"

"I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be."

At the end of Apartment Block C, there was an exit that lead to a dark, dank alleyway connected to the main street. The two friends peered out the doorway for ten minutes. During the duration of time, the duo saw a sizably large number of mutants scramble about the street. They were probably looking for something to eat…

Morena was concerned. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sam wrinkled his nose. "What other choice do we have? Let's go."

"Wait." She grabbed her friend and embraced him in a tight bear hug that lasted several seconds. "Now we can go. Don't die on me, ok?"

Blushing furiously, he agreed. "You can count on me… let's finish this."

With a whoosh of her wings, Morena flew into the air and let out a blue jet of flame that all but incinerated a monster that was prowling the roof of an adjoining building.

In the same instant, Sam sprinted from the door with the pistol firmly clutched in his hand. As soon as he emerged from the alley, his heart sank. The streets were flooded with monsters that gave off a fetid odor that he hadn't noticed before; there must have been at least a hundred in sight. Gathering his courage, he sprinted as fast as he could down the street. Many of the mutants detected his presence immediately.

Doing an overhead sweep, Morena released a large, yellow jet of flame that engulfed ten creatures that were running towards Sam from up the street. They all opened their mouths wide and let out piercing shrieks of agony as they fell to the ground, muscles blackened and charred. The sweet smell of burning meat began to replace the terrible reeking odor that emanated from the monsters.

With some mutants gaining on him from behind, Sam put on an extra burst of speed, but it was no use. Two of the creatures trailed directly behind him, and were literally snapping at his heels. Noticing this, Morena dived from the sky and used a Steel Wing attack.

At breakneck speed, she swept through the two monsters, literally. Both of the mutants' decapitated heads rolled off their shoulders, in a large mist of blood as they nearly reached Sam; their headless bodies fell to the ground and skidded to a halt.

Sam was swiftly running out of energy by the time that the PRO station was in seeing range. Driven by the sight, he forced his now leaden legs to keep running. He found that he was breathing in a very strained fashion. It was only a matter of time now before he would to fall to the ground in exhaustion.

Morena continued to bathe any pursuing mutants down the street in flame as they screeched while burning. She saw that Sam was now within a hundred feet of the building. She shouted down to him. "Keep going, you're going to make it!" She saw him look up, and while his face first lit with triumph, it immediately turned into horror.

"Morena, look out!"

Alarmed, she turned to her right side and saw a blurred figure shoot through the air. The Flygon attempted to dodge, but wasn't quick enough. The flying creature slammed into her side and she plummeted to the ground, smashing into the concrete from a height of twenty feet.

Sam couldn't believe what was happening. "Morena!" He screamed. His feet stopped moving, and he turned around and sprinted in his friend's direction.

Morena was desperately struggling against the rabid creature that kept trying to get at her neck with its needle-sharp teeth. Just as she nearly peeled the creature off of her, another attacked. And another. Soon the small crowd of mutants that had followed them up the street nearly covered Morena's body. She felt their teeth ripping into her flesh, and each bite felt as if someone had branded her skin with a white-hot iron. She desperately tried to hold on to life, but felt her energy quickly fading. Through her blurred vision, she saw Sam running up the street towards her. Channeling her last remaining energy she screamed, "No, run! Get out of-"

She was cut off as a monster ripped her throat out. Red spattered the ground around her as the creature savagely tore at her body. He couldn't see Morena anymore, only a small sea of writhing creatures where his friend had been.

Sam couldn't do a single thing except for watch in a profound sense of horror; the word 'no' caught in his throat. Not a single monster went to attack him, but instead went for the bloodied mess that used to be his best friend. His horror instantly transformed into a burning hatred for the creatures. "Get away from her!" he hollered.

Aiming the gun, he fired at random targets in the frenzy. The sound of wet splatters was heard as the hot lead projectiles ripped through flesh and bone, sending some monsters flying backwards. A particular mutant caught his eye: the flying creature. The same one that was solely responsible for his friend's death.

Not thinking twice, he aimed upwards and pulled the trigger with the monster's head in between the iron sights of the pistol.

Sam was in a deranged state, and fired the last of his second clip into the crowd of swarming monsters. After the gun wouldn't fire anymore, he threw it onto the ground. He turned and ran to the PRO headquarters.

He stumbled through the doors and into the lavishly decorated main hall. None of this caught Sam's attention, however. He collapsed into a corner and broke into a violent fit of crying and coughing. Mucus spilled from his nose and eyes; he suddenly got the feeling that his head was going to explode. Sam clutched his head with his right arm and screamed in agony. For what seemed to be an eternity, he sat there in pain until the feeling slowly faded away. Slowly, he brought his hand down from his head.

Removing his left arm from his cast, he violently tore off the piece of Morena's sweater that covered the wound, regardless of the pain it caused him. Looking at it, he saw that the flesh around the wound had torn away, revealing the redness of muscle underneath. After his observation, Sam quickly realized how the disease had spread throughout the city so fast; once somebody came in contact or was bitten by a creature, it must have transmitted a certain mutagen or disease into the wound. Eventually everyone who had been bitten must have turned into one of those monsters… He laughed out loud at his revelation; he never stood a chance in the first place.

Sam then let out another harsher burst of laughter. His felt as if his mind was rapidly getting ground away by a sheet of rough sandpaper, causing him to quickly go mad. Sam reached up and touched his forehead. From the feel of it, he was running an extremely high fever. His arm slowly slipped back to his side. Sweat dripped from his brow despite the frigid temperature inside of the PRO station.

It wasn't fair. He didn't want to die alone. Instinctively, he reached towards his side where he expected Morena's warm hand to be- when his hand touched the cold marble floor, a fresh wave of tears exploded from his eyes as he realized he would never feel her comforting grip again.

Shifting his attention to the ceiling, Sam saw a peculiar light that shone through a small glass window. It seemed to slowly descend towards him. Blinking his eyes, he looked up once again; the light disappeared. Sam's head suddenly fell forward while he felt the small amount of energy still left in him burn away.

As he sat there dying and alone, Sam closed his eyes and thought of Morena and the fun times that they shared together over their lifetimes. He reflected back on the previous summer, in which he and Morena went to the Hoenn Region- Sam remembered how they had laughed when Morena had eaten so much spicy food in the Mauville Cafe that she belched fire. Sam smiled inwardly at the thought. They had also gone hiking in the Petalburg Woods, and he thought of how she smiled and laughed when he told her jokes as they walked. That same image of her smiling face stayed in Sam's head as he released his weak hold on life, hearing the faint echo of Morena's clean, beautiful laugh.


End file.
